The Mathematics of Natural Motion

User rating: 4.8 / 5 after 24 vote(s)

Two mathematical equations (represented by red lines) can describe all the observed motions of the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes (blue or green lines). Mutant strains do not move in ways predicted by the equations allowing researchers to identify ...
Two mathematical equations (represented by red lines) can describe all the observed motions of the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes (blue or green lines). Mutant strains do not move in ways predicted by the equations, allowing researchers to identify and study non-standard microbes. Credit: Vivek Shenoy/Brown University

Circles, slaloms, figure eights, and loop-the-loops – biologists studying the motion of Listeria monocytogenes sensed that these paths were related, but they didn’t have a good way to define what fit in and what didn’t. A remarkably simple new mathematical description, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reproduces all these shapes with just one pair of equations and only two key variables. Besides helping to identify bacterial mutants, the equations suggest which mechanisms could be driving the motion.


Full story »
All News summaries from General Science news
All News summaries for May 15, 2007
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive